What turns your crank?

Good morning. I pray all of you had a wonderful Christmas focused on Jesus and His great love and saving grace!!!!

It is wonderful to see each of you here this morning.

To those joining us on our website or facebook page via our live stream

welcome we are glad you are here and look forward to worshipping with you in person soon

Tonight normally would be worship night and fellowship dinner as it is the last Sunday of the month.....however we have moved worship night and the fellowship dinner to Tuesday night New Years Eve.....we will worship at 6 pm followed by the fellowship dinner and talking about our IT’s What turns our cranks and talking about ministry and serving others

we will have a short message and communion at some point in the evening as well probably around 9 pm

Please bring board games or other things as we enjoy the night of fellowship and dreaming about what God wants for us individually and corporately

Lets Pray

We have spent 10 weeks looking at It: Salvation and Discipleship What turns your crank

Up until today we have focused on salvation and discipleship and what we believe here at CCC

All to get to this point this morning

What turns your crank

Last week i gave you a link to take a free spiritual inventory and I hope you took it and have it with you as today we are diving into spiritual gifts that must drive our serving others and serving God

You and I as Christians must be doers of the Word and not hearers only

James 1:22

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“But be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

No only doers in terms of commandments because you must keep God’s commandments

You don’t keep God’s commandments to be saved but because you are saved

Because Jesus became your sin and died in your place you have an obligation to love Him and He says Himself if you love me keep my commandments

You also have an obligation to do good works because God Himself created you and created good works for you to do

Ephesians 2:4–10

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“But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.”

God just said you should walk in the good works He prepared beforehand for you to do

How

How do you do that

He gives you spiritual gifts when you get saved and as you grow in Christ

It is important to know your spiritual gifts not for your glory

not for your power

not for your gain

but because God gives you these gifts to walk in the works He created you to do!

it has nothing to do with you and everything to do with Jesus

you are created to do His work

You are made for more than chasing a dollar

or trying to put respect on your name

or trying to grow your social media followers

you are made for more than committing all you have to a job that means nothing in eternity

you are made for more than a hobby or pastime that you commit your money and free time to

that is not why God created you

He created you to do the works He prepared for you to do

can you do that at your job absolutely

can you do that with your hobby or pastime absolutely

but if we are honest most are not......for many Christians coming to church or bible study is as much “ministry” as they do.......that is not ministry at all

You are called to ministry

you are called to serve God

you are called to serve others

you are called to walk in the works God created for you to walk in!!!

what turns your crank is a lifestyle of humility and service

you can make money

you can make excuses

you can justify your lack of work and sin all that you want

but there are no excuses because you were made for more than you

If you hear nothing else this morning hear this.......you are made to be the hands and feet of Jesus

you are made to love others as Jesus loves you

You are made to put Jesus first and foremost in the very center of your life

anything less is unacceptable

If you printed or have access to that spiritual inventory online you may want to have it handy as we go through the spiritual gifts

I am going to read two sections of scripture that look at spiritual gifts then we will talk about it

1 Corinthians 12:4–11

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“Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone. To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good. For to one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. All these are empowered by one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he wills.”

Romans 12:3–8

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“For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.”

I want to quickly walk down through the gifts listed here in these two scriptures

as I do be prayerful for Holy Spirit to show you your gift or gifts

all Christians have at least one gift some a few gifts and some many gifts

Lets start

Utterance of Wisdom and Knowledge

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Utterance or as KJV says word of comes from a greek noun logos meaning something said; expression

wisdom greek noun sophia meaning wisdom

knowledge greek noun gnosis meaning knowing or knowledge

these are very similar which is why i listed them together

utterance of wisdom is a speaking gift....it is an ability to understand God’s Word and speak about it....applying God’s Word through Holy Spirit to life

utterance of knowledge is the ability to understand and speak God’s truth

Faith

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comes from greek noun pistis means persuasion…moral conviction of religious truth, truthfulness of God

this gift is exercised in persistent prayer and endurance in intercession

strong trust in God in the midst of difficult circumstances

Gifts of healing

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gifts greek noun charisma meaning gratuity, deliverance

healing greek noun iama means healing

I believe God is still in the healing business

However if you look throughout the Bible people healing other people through the power of the Holy Spirit is pretty limited.....it was common during Jesus time on earth and for a while after to verify Jesus and the Gospel.....the healings helped prove He was the Messiah and the apostles healed to prove the Gospel was legit and powerful

I believe wholeheartedly that God still heals....He even heals through the power of prayer and laying on of hands but it is God who does it and it will be very rarely expressed through people

Miracles

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greek noun dynamis....means miraculous power

again God is still in the miracle business and still does miracles today but this as gifts of healing is not a common spiritual gift today....when it is used it is always used to further the Kingdom and point people to or back to Jesus

Prophecy

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greek noun prophetcia means prediction…prophecy

I do not believe there are any more prophets because God’s Word is written so therefore nothing to prophecy about

However I do believe God still gives us guidance and some receive prophecy in terms of applying scripture to life or sometimes God reveals to someone something that He wants to be used in someone else’s life

Distinguishing between spirits

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distinguishing greek noun diakisis means judicial estimation

spirits greek noun pneuma current of air, breath…spirit

God gives ability to recognize lying spirits

recognize evil spirits

know wrong doctrine

This is so important today as there are so many lying spirits....so many evil spirit that appear to be good

so much wrong doctrine

just this morning....my back was hurting and I couldnt sleep so i moved to the couch and was watching some tictoks and heard one young man try to proclaim that James the brother of Jesus and the disciples and Paul taught different gospels

He was preaching that one can’t accept Pauls teaching of Jesus as the real Jesus.......

so many false teachers out there be careful what you allow to influence you

we should all distinguish based upon the Bible taking everything captive against the Word of God

Those with this gift however take that to another level......see through the disguise of evil and lying spirits....see right through face doctrine and then helping others to see the lies and deceit

Tongues and Interpretation of Tongues

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greek noun glossa means member of the body…your tongue....also language or dialect distinct from other nations

Tongues still happen and are biblical as long as handled correctly

satan can also produce what sounds like tongues but is not

the one gifted with tongues will also recognize the one gifted with the interpretation of tongues because the bible states you are not to speak in tongues unless there is one present who can interpret those tongues because again all of God’s spiritual gifts are to build one another up and with no interpretation there no building up just chaos and confusion

1 Corinthians 14:33

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“For God is not a God of confusion but of peace. As in all the churches of the saints,”

God is a God of peace not confusion so where there is confusion that means God is not there

Serving

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Greek noun diakonia means attendance as in attending to something or someone…aid…service

Teaches

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greek verb didasko means to teach

Exhorts

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greek verb parakaleo means to call near....invite....call for…comfort

websters 1828 defines exhort as incite by words or advice…animate or urge by arguments to do good deeds

encouragement to follow God and His Word

Gives

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greek verb metadidomi means to give over…share

Leads

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greek verb proistemi means to stand before…to preside..

Show Mercy

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greek verb eleeo means compassionate....have compassion…show mercy

These are not all of the spiritual gifts but the ones listed in the two scriptures we looked at

There are many cool things about spiritual gifts but one that is so very cool is they are to be used for others benefit not your benefit

So why did God lay IT on the elders hearts

Why did we spend 11 or 12 weeks diving into this

CCC this is where the rubber meets the road

where is the fruit?

If a church is a spirit filled new testament church they will be known by their fruits

by their service

by their outreach

by their ministry

what is CCC known for

where is our fruit

It begins with you as an individual

what is your ministry

what are the good works you are to be walking in as God’s workmanship

I love that all of you are here…Praise God you are here but that is not your ministry

pew sitting is not a ministry nor a gift....it for sure is not a fruit

you for sure can minister and use…produce fruit…your gifts here but being here is not fruit in and of itself

you are to use your gifts to build others up

to encourage others

to edify others

to rebuke others

to hold other accountable

why do you come to church

why are you here

I believe here at CCC we preach and teach the Word of God

Many outside these doors are dying to hear God’s life saving gospel and Jesus

Why then aren’t we full?

There are many reasons but one major reason is they do not see spiritual fruit

why were people drawn to Jesus and His disciples

Fruit

they produced fruit

people left changed because of Jesus and the Gospel

changed people attract people because so many want to be changed themselves

The fact of the matter is the Holy Spirit is producing fruit here but it is through a small number of people…handful if you will

What if everyone of us jumped in and started serving in our gifts

what if everyone of us got so passionate about what turns our cranks that we threw everything else to the side and dove in head first to serving God and others

what if everyone of us were as passionate about serving God with our gifts as we are about sports or entertainment

God doesnt want or expect His children to be consumers

come each and every week sit in the pew nod your head in agreement....maybe even get completely full just to go home and keep it to yourself

No God wants and expects crank turners

He wants and expects you to take Him to

the lost

the broken

the hurting

the addicted

the abused

the rejected

the unwatned

the unloved

He wants and expects you to stand on His Word and fight against

sin

injustice

corruption

murder

destruction of marriage and gender roles

He wants and expects you to die to you so you may live in Jesus

He wants and expects you to shine the light of Jesus into this dark, broken, hurting, lost world

I pray you are seeing this

I pray you are getting this

I pray you are moved to action because of what Jesus did for you

The time is short and we dont have time to sit on the sideline cheering others on to do the work

God created you to do the works He created for you to do

I cant do your works

you cant do my works

we each have works we must do that we must walk in or they wont get done

You do that through your gifts and service

Were are you?

Right now we are going to do an invitation to give you a chance to get real with God about your service

to get real with God about your fruit

I want you to continue to talk to God about it in your secret place and then come back on Tuesday night ready to talk and dream and pray about what God has for you and for us as a body here at CCC

be prayerful about what God wants from You

Come Tuesday with ideas

come tuesday with passion

the lost souls of Nevada and Vernon County need us walking in our ministries and gifts

eternities hand in the balance

Invitation… Do Something by Matthew West